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Law of Illinois

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ThelawofIllinoisconsists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local law. TheIllinois Compiled Statutes(ILCS) form the general statutory law.

Sources

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See also:Government of Illinois
Title page of the 1912Laws of Illinois

TheConstitution of Illinoisis the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by theIllinois General Assembly,published in theLaws of Illinois,and codified in theIllinois Compiled Statutes(ILCS). State agencies publish regulations (sometimes called administrative law) in theIllinois Register,which are in turn codified in theIllinois Administrative Code.Illinois's legal system is based oncommon law,which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Appellate Courts, which are published on the website of the Supreme Court. Counties, townships, cities, and villages may also promulgatelocal ordinances.There are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law.

Constitution

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TheConstitution of Illinoisis the foundation of thegovernment of Illinoisand vests the legislative power of the state in theIllinois General Assembly.The Illinois Constitution in turn is subordinate only to theConstitution of the United States,which is the supreme law of the land.

Legislation

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Pursuant to the state constitution, theIllinois General Assemblyhas enactedlegislation.These legislative acts are published in the officialLaws of Illinoisand are called "session laws".[1][2]TheIllinois Compiled Statutes(ILCS) are thecodifiedstatutesof a general and permanent nature.[2][3]

TheIllinois Legislative Reference Bureau(LRB) makes additions, deletions, and changes to ILCS.[4]There is no official version of the ILCS.[5]There are several unofficial versions:Illinois State Bar Association's/West'sIllinois Compiled Statutes,West'sSmith–Hurd Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated,andLexisNexis'sIllinois Compiled Statutes Annotated.[6]

Administrative law

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Front page of volume 39 of theIllinois Register

Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgatedregulations.The regulations are codified in theIllinois Administrative Code.[3]TheIllinois Registeris the weekly publication containing proposed and adopted rules.[3]There also exist administrative law decisions.[7]

Both theIllinois Administrative CodeandIllinois Registerare maintained by theIllinois Secretary of State.TheIllinois Administrative Codewas last printed in 1996.[8]The General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules also publishes online versions.[9]

TheFlinn Reportis a weekly newsletter published by the Joint Committee meant to inform and educate Illinois citizens about current rulemaking activity.[9]

Case law

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See also:Judiciary of Illinois

Illinois's legal system is based oncommon law,which is interpreted bycase lawthrough thedecisionsof theSupreme Court of Illinoisand theIllinois Appellate Court.The officialreporterfor opinions of the Supreme Court and the Appellate Court are published on the website of the Illinois Supreme Court using a public domaincase citation.[10][11][12]There are also unofficial sources such as West'sIllinois Decisions(an Illinois-specific version of theNorth Eastern Reporter) with opinions since 1886.[1]Illinois Appellate Court decisions from before 1935 are not binding.[13]Illinois Circuit Court decisions are not published,[14]but jury verdicts and settlements are published in the monthlyIllinois Jury Verdict Reporter,with regular updates from theChicago Daily Law Bulletin,and the weeklyCook County Jury Verdict Reporter.[15]Decisions of theIllinois Court of Claimsare published in theCourt of Claims Reports.[16]

TheIllinois Digestis an indexed compilation of summaries of opinions, or digest.[1]

The opinions of the Supreme Court and Appellate Court had been published in theIllinois ReportsandIllinois Appellate Court Reports,respectively, from 1831 to 2011;[12]according to theUniversity of Chicago Library,since 1819 and 1877, respectively.[1]Illinois Circuit Court decisions were published from 1907 to 1909.[14]

Local ordinances

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See also:Administrative divisions of Illinois
See also:Government of Cook CountyandGovernment of Chicago
Title page of theCook County Code of Ordinances

Illinois counties, townships, cities, and villages may promulgatelocal ordinances.[17]

TheGovernment of Chicagooperates as a special charter municipality.[18]TheJournal of the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicagois the official publication of the acts of the Chicago City Council,[19]and theMunicipal Code of Chicagois thecodificationof itslocal ordinancesof a general and permanent nature.[19][20]

Shepard's Illinois Citationsincludes judicial interpretations of local ordinances.[21]

Other

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In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law.Illinois JurisprudenceandIllinois Law and Practiceare two major legalencyclopedias.[1]TheIllinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education(IICLE) also publishes guides forcontinuing legal education.[1]

Unique features

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Illinois was one of the last remaining states to recognize thealienation of affectionstort.[22]However, recognition of the tort was statutorily abrogated at the beginning of 2016, pursuant to the Alienation of Affections Abolition Act.[23]

See also

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Topics

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Other

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References

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  1. ^abcdef"Illinois Legal Research Guide".University of Chicago Library.Retrieved5 September2013.
  2. ^abDecker, John F.; Kopacz, Christopher (2012).Illinois Criminal Law: A Survey of Crimes and Defenses(5th ed.).LexisNexis.§ 1.01.ISBN978-0-7698-5284-3.
  3. ^abcSmith, Lori L.; Barkley, Daniel C.; Cornwall, Daniel C.; Johnson, Eric W.; Malcomb, J. Louise (2003).Tapping State Government Information Sources.Greenwood Publishing Group.p. 126.ISBN1-57356-387-0.LCCN2002044846.
  4. ^"Organization of the Illinois Compiled Statutes".Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau.Retrieved10 June2014.
  5. ^Wojcik 2003,p. 79.
  6. ^Wojcik 2003,pp. 78–79.
  7. ^Wojcik 2003,p. 108.
  8. ^Wojcik 2003,p. 190.
  9. ^ab"JCAR Home Page".Illinois General Assembly.Retrieved21 June2013.
  10. ^"Illinois Supreme Court ends era of printed volumes with new public domain citation system".Illinois Lawyer Now.Illinois State Bar Association.31 May 2011.
  11. ^"Universal Citation and the American Association of Law Libraries: A White Paper"(PDF).Law Library Journal.103(3): 331–357. 2011. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2012-06-19.
  12. ^ab"Illinois Supreme Court Announces New Public Domain Citation System, Ending Era of Printed Volumes"(PDF)(Press release).Supreme Court of Illinois.31 May 2011. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 27 September 2013.
  13. ^Wojcik 2003,p. 46.
  14. ^abWojcik 2003,p. 51.
  15. ^Wojcik 2003,p. 52.
  16. ^Wojcik 2003,p. 58.
  17. ^Gaylord, Tom (March 2007)."Finding Illinois Municipal Ordinances Online".Illinois Bar Journal.95(3): 156.
  18. ^"Charters, Municipal".The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago.Chicago Historical Society.Retrieved28 November2013.
  19. ^abJulia Ellis, Chicago City Clerk Legislative Counsel (20 November 2013).The Making of Chicago City Law - How It Works.OpenGov Foundation/YouTube.Retrieved28 November2013.
  20. ^Chicago City Council Journal of 27 June 1990Archived3 December 2013 at theWayback Machine,p. 17764
  21. ^Wojcik 2003,p. 93.
  22. ^Drash, Wayne (8 December 2009)."Beware cheaters: Your lover's spouse can sue you".CNN.
  23. ^740 ILCS 5/0.01
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